


Close Enough

by Nervous_Squid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Humor, s7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 11:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15818295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nervous_Squid/pseuds/Nervous_Squid
Summary: Goodbye.Farewell.so long.Until I fly across three quadrants and two galaxies to see you.





	Close Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This Fanfic is a culmination (I don’t think I’m using this correctly) of angst about this pairing and insane hope that they eventually get together.
> 
> Also Hi, I’m pretty new to the Plance part of this fandom, I can honestly say I shipped this since the show started but not as seriously until the last few seasons and with finding the amazing Plance community on Tumblr.
> 
> And lastly I needed to post this before I edit it into oblivion.

The house was peach. 

At least, it looked peach in the early morning light or rather lack thereof. It was a pretty standard house for Arizona. It seemed big enough to comfortably fit a family of four and their dog. The garrison was only an hour away on foot. It would have been easier by car, back when there were still roads to drive on. 

“Lance?” Pidge said, “What are you doing here?”

Lance felt a shiver tear through his spine at the sound of her voice. He turned to find Pidge walking towards him or rather the house. Her house. She was wearing her familiar green and white windbreaker, covered in tears and loose threads from overuse. 

“Me? I was just… out... on a stroll?” he said, scratching the back of his head, “so I thought I’d… pop in and see how you were doing?”

“You were on a stroll?” she said, readjusting her glasses, “From Cuba?”

“…”

“Cuba… the island?”

“It’s not like I walked the whole way” he said, thinking of red just parked close to the garrison, “Besides what were you doing outside at three A.M.?”

“I couldn’t sleep” she said, pulling her windbreaker tighter against the early morning chill, “So, I took a walk around my neighbor-hood like a normal human being”

“We pilot cat themed intergalactic warships” Lance said, “It’s not like we’re still normal human beings”

He watched Pidge’s eyebrows crinkle together over her narrowed eyes. He recognized this look, it was the look she reserved for projects that were annoying her or when he was the one annoying her.

“Do you want to come in?” she sighed.

“Can I come in?” he said, an alien feeling of discomfort spreading over him. He had to remind himself that they’ve spent the last few years living together in an ancient space-castle. 

“Well, seeing as you just inappropriately used an intergalactic warship for a midnight stroll, you might as well come in” she said, already leading the way.

“Hey, Red needed the exercise” he quipped automatically, the discomfort dissipating as he entered the front door.

Lance had thought that he and Pidge were pretty close friends. Fighting a race of purple space-cats in a giant robot really does wonders for team bonding. He thought he knew everything about her, especially after they got passed the whole secretly-a-girl-in-disguise fiasco. He knew she was stuck in a concerning love affair with peanut butter, he knew about her allergy to everything associated with the outdoors but he couldn’t say he knew much about her home-life.

Was her room as messy as it was back at the castle? 

Does she stay up all hours of the night on earth as well? 

Did she mother Bae Bae the same way Kaltenecker mothered her?

Pidge flicked a switch and lights flooded the hallway. It took a moment for his eyes to readjust before he noticed the wooden floors underneath various rugs and the plain beige walls covered in family photos. He sees familiar faces scattered in the hallway smiling back at him. He picks up a familiar picture of Matt and a girl in a purple dress. Pidge, he reminds himself. 

“We’re going to need to talk about randomly touching my stuff” she said.

“C’mon Pidge,” he said, grinning back at her, “I won’t break anything”

“Lance” she said, arms folding over her chest while she looked up at him, “What happened to my headphones?”

“That wasn’t my fault” Lance said immediately, nervously putting the picture back on the table “Headphones have a limited life-span anyway”

“You left them in an oven!” she said, her voice a mix of a whisper and a shout, conscious that her exhausted family were fast asleep upstairs like normal human beings. 

“I thought it was just a cupboard” he said, “Space-ovens aren’t labelled properly”

“Space ovens look exactly like-”

The loud rumble of his stomach ricocheted off the walls interrupting his excuse. 

“hungry?” she said, stifling a laugh as she moved them towards the kitchen. 

“Are you going to cook?” he said, eyebrows raised sceptically, images of inedible food goo experiments flashing through his mind.

“If by ‘cook’ you mean reheating garlic knots my mom made earlier, then yes I am” she said, pulling out a plate wrapped in tin foil from the fridge.

“You had me at garlic knots” he said, licking his lips at the mention of his favourite food.

Lance found himself leaning against the kitchen counter, the marble top chilling his palms while Pidge busied herself with their garlic knots. His mind drifted to quiet nights on the castle, spent playing video games and trying to cook edible food without Hunk to help them. There’s still the final level of Killbot Phantasm I to finish. They never got around to it in between Galra attacks and lobbying planets to join the coalition. They were too busy trying to survive against an entire empire out to kill them let alone survive a digital mini-boss. 

“Are you ok?” she said, snapping him back to reality. The war was over. They weren’t in space anymore. They were on solid ground, turning at a steady pace of 1000 miles per hour. He wouldn’t be attacked by the Galra here, unless Keith and the other blades suddenly decided to enslave the Earth.

“Are you ok?” he said, an invisible presence pushing against his chest, “Why were you out for a walk alone this late?”

“Lance, you realise you’re in my house. In Arizona. 2000 miles away from your home, at-” she said, checking her watch, “now 4 am in the morning, you can’t be worried about my late night walks right now”

“You know, this is actually a reasonable hour to be awake in my time-zone” he said, ignoring the way her eyes focused on him, trying to figure him out.

“It’s 7am in Cuba right now” she said, “That’s still not a reasonable hour to be awake”

“The sun is up by 7am” he said, “Most people like to be awake while the sun is actually up” 

She didn’t point out that normal people don’t fly to a different country unannounced at 3am without warning for a walk in the moonlight. 

He didn’t explain why he was here in Arizona at 3am waiting in front of her house. 

He didn’t know how.

Instead they let the smell of his favourite food fill the space between them. 

Lance looked up at her and found a pair of golden eyes focused on him behind her glasses. She was biting her cheeks in a way that made them puff out. He could see the cogs whirring behind her eyes, going too fast for an average person at four A.M. in the morning. She’s not an average person he reminds himself. He feels that uncomfortable presence in his chest rise under her scrutiny. It was too difficult to dispel and too widespread to ignore. 

“Is it true?” he chokes out, his voice barely louder than the hum of the microwave. 

“There are a lot of things that are true” she said, “Which one are you asking about?”

“Are you leaving us?” he said, her unwavering gaze increasing his discomfort.

“Technically speaking, I’m actually going to be staying” she said, without missing a beat.

“So it’s true?” he pressed.

“yes” she said, her voice steady.

“Why?” he said, irritation scratching at his chest. 

“Earth needs to be rebuilt,” she said, “And it needs people to help rebuild it”

“There are plenty of people that can help rebuild earth,” he countered.

“I’m the leading expert on integrating intergalactic technologies,” she said, the pride in her voice, “They’ll need me to help smooth over the transition earth is going to go through with all the new-“

“What about Voltron?!” he said, cutting her off, “We still need to convince the rest of the galaxy to join the coalition, there are still Galra factions out there, there are crazy altean powered mechas to deal with!” 

“You guys will be fine without Voltron” she said, “I’ve done the math and I know that the remaining galra threat, even with the crazy altean powered mechas factored in, doesn’t warrant having Voltron around all the time. Even if there was, I’d still have green, I could fly out to you guys in-” 

“What if there’s an emergency?”

“My calculations are never wrong, Lance” she said.

“We need you” he said.

“If you guys need the tech support, me and Hunk have already worked out a system where we can-”

“That’s not the same” Lance said, “What if the castle’s been infiltrated and all the tech systems have blown up, we need someone to-”

“That won’t happen” Pidge said, pinching the bridge of her nose, “I’ve done the math. That can’t happen again with the new systems I designed” 

“Well redo the math” Lance said, “Because it doesn’t any make sense” 

“How doesn’t this make sense” she said, her eyebrows furrowing, “It’s advantageous to have a lion here protecting earth with all the new civilizations coming together”

“Pidge, you know how in horror movies, the characters always decide to split up?” Lance said, making his case, “You know those characters die right?”

He could feel his heart racing, pounding against his chest as he recalled dozens of close calls during combat, too close to forget.

“Lance” she said softly, her gaze steadily meeting his own. 

He could feel his breathing slowing to a normal pace as he watched her. She was alive. They were here in her kitchen waiting for their garlic knots to finish heating up. 

“We’re not in a horror movie” she reminded him softly, “Not anymore”

She was right, he could admit that at least.

She was always right. 

Their nightmare was over. 

He was reunited with his family. 

All that was left was for them to tie off loose ends. 

They were going to be ok, they were all moving on to the next parts of their lives. They just weren’t doing it together.

Distantly, Lance recognised the ding of the microwave, reminding them that their food was ready. 

“Are you really not coming with us?” he said, part of him still waiting for her to laugh and tell him that this has been a joke this whole time.

“I’m needed here” she said, finally breaking away from his gaze, “and you’re needed up there”

He doesn’t admit that it hurts. He’s sure it’s clear enough on his face. He’s never been too adept at hiding his emotions like the others. Maybe he’s slightly better than Hunk, but that’s still debatable. 

He knew what remaining a part of team Voltron meant. It became clear to him with each tear his parents shed when he told them but that was his duty. The universe needed them and they couldn’t leave Allura to handle everything on her own. He had accepted his fate, his responsibility as the right hand of Voltron but hearing it from her stirred up that discomfort he was feeling, making it grow until it became painful.

The thought of leaving his family hurt but that was a pain he was used to, a pain he was prepared for.

Leaving her behind is something he wasn’t ready for yet. 

“The garlic knots are ready” she said, her eyes avoiding his.

“They’re probably cold now” he said.

“They’re not as good when they’re cold” she mused.

“That’s blasphemous” he said, “They’re always delicious. No matter what”

“I’ll miss you” she said.

Her words were quiet, they barely reached him in between the sound of the microwave door snapping open and closed. He wasn’t sure if he imagined it.

“Did you just admit you have feelings?” he said, his lips twitching upwards.

“Do you want your garlic knots or not?” she said indignantly, finally meeting his gaze just to glare at him.

“I’ll miss you too” he said. 

He was going to miss her horrible bed-head. 

He was going to miss how she rambles when she gets excited over some crazy new alien technology. 

He was going to miss their late-night video game campaigns.

He was going to miss the way she laughs until she’s breathless – usually at his expense. 

He was going to miss her snark and even her teasing.

He was going to miss her. 

A startled gasp from Pidge was the only sign he had that he had even moved. He doesn’t recall closing the distance between them to wrap his arms around her small form. All he remembers is how warm she was fitting snugly against him. He worried if he was squeezing too tight. He smiled into her hair when her arms finally find their way around his waist. The discomfort and pain he felt easing away into warmth. 

He heard her mumble something about having to reheat their garlic knots again.

His mind was too busy calculating how fast Red could travel back and forth between solar systems.

 

Extra. 

After their second attempt at reheating their garlic knots they were finally able to eat.

“I call dibs on Kaltenecker” he said, finishing his fourth garlic knot.

“No way, you can’t have Kaltenecker and the game console” she said in between bites.

“Kaltenecker will get depressed without me” he said.

“Kaltenecker is a cow” she said, “She belongs on earth”

“Who’s going to milk her if I’m not here?” he said.

“I can do it” she said.

“Pidge” he said, “You’re a highly renowned technological genius but you can’t milk a cow”

“Hey!” she said, “I know how to milk a cow”

“Pidge, milking isn’t something you can just know about” he said, making wild gestures with his arms, “It’s an art”

“I’m more than capable of taking care of Kaltenecker,” she muttered, glaring at him over her garlic knot.

“You never had any time for Kaltenecker,” Lance countered, “You were always too busy upgrading everything in the castle”

“I was upgrading castle defences” she argued, “for Kaltenecker’s safety”

“Sure” he said, “because a highly explosive rocket booster is for Kaltenecker’s safety” 

“You were too busy getting facials!” Pidge said.

“Those were an essential part of life, Pidge, we’ve discussed this” he said.

“Hey!” Matt said, cutting into their conversation.

The pair turned to find Matt stepping through the kitchen doorway, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. 

“It’s five A.M in the morning” he said, swiping a garlic knot, “Please, finish this custody battle later at a reasonable hour” 

They watched Matt leave and shut the door behind him. 

“I could take you in a custody battle” Pidge said, throwing a garlic knot at him.

“Oh yeah,” he said, successfully catching the garlic knot and taking a bite, “We’ll see how you fare in court later”

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that's it really. This is the product of not writing up lab reports but for Plance it's worth it.  
> Thanks for making it this far, and constructive criticism is appreciated.


End file.
